Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
crows pitch on the lawn screeching a song
the inmates wake up and they're pulled to the bars
to pine their regrets and their rusting corvettes
and the tragedy they once had a part... in
they said "you ruined a life--you pissed on a prize"
it's still pulling your knuckles to your palm
(fucking conscience is siding with the wrong side)
you know the devil's not deep--no, no, he's brushing your cheek
and hearing him breathe you remember a song
just another angel through the clouds and into the ground
just another pilot through the clouds and into the ground
just another child through the chrome sets out on his own
birds shit on your car, you're scraping it off
do they know who you are? don't they know who you are?!
they sing "you ruined a life-- you pissed on a prize"
still pulling your knuckles to your tie
you carry on, hunched over your job
(start the engines i'm dying in the long line)
but you wanna get off and run away from it all
and run away from it all...
you plan your escape, at the end of the day, you plan your escape
you take what you saved, and you get on a plane, yeah you take what you saved
and you start fading away, as you're turning the page, you start fading away
(just another angel through the clouds and into the ground
just another pilot flying down
just another devil out of the dirt and back into the earth)
(fucking conscience is siding with the wrong side
start the engines, i'm dying in the long line)
the inmates wake up and they're pulled to the bars
to pine their regrets and their rusting corvettes
and the tragedy they once had a part... in
they said "you ruined a life--you pissed on a prize"
it's still pulling your knuckles to your palm
(fucking conscience is siding with the wrong side)
you know the devil's not deep--no, no, he's brushing your cheek
and hearing him breathe you remember a song
just another angel through the clouds and into the ground
just another pilot through the clouds and into the ground
just another child through the chrome sets out on his own
birds shit on your car, you're scraping it off
do they know who you are? don't they know who you are?!
they sing "you ruined a life-- you pissed on a prize"
still pulling your knuckles to your tie
you carry on, hunched over your job
(start the engines i'm dying in the long line)
but you wanna get off and run away from it all
and run away from it all...
you plan your escape, at the end of the day, you plan your escape
you take what you saved, and you get on a plane, yeah you take what you saved
and you start fading away, as you're turning the page, you start fading away
(just another angel through the clouds and into the ground
just another pilot flying down
just another devil out of the dirt and back into the earth)
(fucking conscience is siding with the wrong side
start the engines, i'm dying in the long line)
Lyrics submitted by robin_ann
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
we need more hey rosetta! fans :)
Any input on the meaning? Are they comparing prison to a desk job?
birds shit on your car, you're scraping it off do they know who you are? don't they know who you are?!
I love that line. I think of it every time I see a crow around a car of someone I don't like. I just wish they would shit so I could sing it in their face.
This song is amazing to hear live
yeah we need more hey roesetta fans in here
this is great live, just a fun song all the way
Donald Margolis is Jane's father who works as an air traffic controller. He owns the building his daughter managed for him where Jesse lived. He sent Jane to rehab once before and goes with her to recovery meetings. Donald becomes furious when he discovers that his daughter is back on heroin, suspecting Jesse is at fault. He nearly calls the police, but relents when Jane promises to go back into rehab. Depressed, he goes to a bar and strikes up a conversation with a stranger (Walter) about the heartache of raising children. His words inspire Walter to help Jesse get clean from heroin. The next day he arrives at his daughter's house and finds medical personnel taking her out in a bodybag. He answers a few questions about Jane, says nothing to Jesse, and leaves with his daughter's body. After a hiatus, he goes back to work despite still being distraught over his daughter's death. He makes a fatal error that causes a 737, Wayfarer 515, to collide with another plane in the skies over Albquerque.
Donald is all over the news following the crash as the investigators question to what extent he was responsible for the accident and whether it was appropriate for him to be allowed to work so soon after his daughter's tragic death. While driving, Walt overhears on the radio that Donald was rushed to the hospital from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, which visibly disturbs him as a reminder of his involvement in the Wayfarer disaster. [Breaking Bad Wiki]
I think this is describing Nazi/enemy pilots post war.
Verse 1: In jail, with the same regrets as any other man put in jail. He is seen as an animal, a villain, a waste of a human. ("fucking conscience is siding with the wrong side") Because he was on the losing side of the war all of his actions are wrong.
Chorus: Remembering war. Enemy and allied pilots falling through the clouds to their deaths. The child could either be a child now let fatherless due to the war, a child brought up during the war and the vast varieties of machinery developed during that time, or both.
Verse 2: I can only imagine his thoughts. "Really? You're shitting on my car. My car!? I used to fly higher and faster than any of you! I should be your king!" He definitely feels that he is too superior for a mundane lifestyle. He was once a great pilot during the war. But it just comes back to him being a villain, a substandard human because he sided with the wrong force. He "pissed on a prize". He is preoccupied with flying again.
Last verse: He picks up his life and leaves on a plane. It doesn’t matter who he is, what he’s done, he is back in his element and about to make a new beginning for himself. Whether or not he is piloting said plane is unknown, but he is doing the one thing he has always loved - flying.